Showtime Websites Are Mining Monero With Your CPU, Unclear If Hack Or Experiment (bleepingcomputer.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Two Showtime domains are currently loading and running Coinhive, a JavaScript library that mines Monero using the CPU resources of users visiting Showtime's websites. The two domains are showtime.com and showtimeanytime.com, the latter being the official URL for the company's online video streaming service. It is unclear if someone hacked Showtime and included the mining script without the company's knowledge. Showtime did not respond to a request for comment, but it could be an experiment as the setThrottle value is 0.97, meaning the mining script will remain dormant for 97% of the time. Despite this, Coinhive has been recently adopted by a large number of malware operations, such as malvertisers, adware developers, rogue Chrome extensions, and website hackers, who secretly load the code in a page's background and make money off unsuspecting users. At least two ad blockers have added support for blocking Coinhive's JS library -- AdBlock Plus and AdGuard -- and developers have also put together Chrome extensions that terminate anything that looks like Coinhive's mining script -- AntiMiner, No Coin, and minerBlock.

The Pirate Bay recently ran tests using Coinhive. A recent report has calculated that a site like The Pirate Bay could make around $12,000 per month by mining Monero in the background.

Comments

Russian Satellite Proof, America is ISIS

[Anonymous Coward]

Blockbuster: Russian Satellite Proof, America is ISIS!

ISIS positions north of Deir Ezzor manned by US Special Forces. Photos prove America is ISIS

[ Editor's Note 2: Gordon went to the Russian ministry of defense to get the best quality photos, as they are needed to drive home two messages. One is that we have photographic proof of US advisers, Special Ops, or whatever you want to call them seeming to be able to operate inside and/or near ISIS held areas.

Or two, these ISIS held areas can sometimes be SDF people dressed up as ISIS, depending what central casting in Hollywood has called up for the extras to dress as for the day.

But there is a third questions. The Russians have obviously had these photos for days and maybe even weeks now, so why have they been hiding them at this critical stage of the war with the SDF now coming deep into traditional Arab territory in what is clearly and army of conquest now, with the US fully onboard.

With ISIS pushed out of so many areas, and so many of the killed, or "gone to Idlib", who do we see Damascus showing signs of a shortage of manpower. I watched a video of SAA troops opening an new flank on Saquir Island south of Deir Ezzor. They were using on rubber boat being pulled back with a rope to shuttle troop across a narrow water barrier.

At a minimum then needed two, with the second boat shuttling over the ammunition that is typically needed to sustain and offensive, and especially reserve ammunition to handle counter attacks where running out can be a death sentence.

The ammo boat would also usually be carrying heavy crew manned machine guns, yet I have not seen a single one in any of these crossing videos, nor have I seen any RPG men with their backpacks of triple shot loads with any of these platoons going into combat on the west side of the river.

We thank the Russian command for these photos. Please send more, and send them sooner⦠Jim W. Dean ]

Editor's note: As US and SDF forces "defeat" ISIS near Deir Ezzor, it is now revealed that US and ISIS forces attacking Syrian Army positions are in fact one in the same. As long suspected, the US is supplying equipment and arms to ISIS, is safeguarding their leaders and fighting a totally phony war while in fact running the ISIS organization. Were one to say ISIS is commanded by Donald Trump, one would not be making a misstatement of any kind. Gordon Duff

        The newly released images "clearly show that US special ops are stationed at the outposts previously set up by ISIS militants."

        "Despite that the US strongholds being located in the ISIS areas, no screening patrol has been organized at them," the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-co...
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Re:Russian Satellite Proof, America is ISIS

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut up, faggot.

Re:Russian Satellite Proof, America is ISIS

[MightyYar]

Naw, it's good he posted this. I would have no idea what the crazy conspiracy people have moved onto if not for posts like this.

Still think NoScript is optional?

[Anonymous Coward]

Firefox, you will be missed.

Re:Still think NoScript is optional?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm tired of every damn browser download bing nothing more than a re-packaged version of firefox.

Time for some TRUE independent browsers that put 100% control in the hands of the end user.

The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

A recent report has calculated that a site ... could make around $12,000 per month by mining Monero in the background.

It's not really a case of the site making money. They haven't actually produced anything of real value, so wealth hasn't been created. All they've done is consumed the computing and electricity resources of the site's users, and converted them to an entry in some distributed database. Overall, it's a net economic loss. Resources were consumed without producing anything of value.

At least advertising, as shitty as it is, can potentially result in a sale, which is an example of actual wealth creation.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Rick Schumann]

This is one thought I immediately had: So far as I know, it takes some serious computing power to 'mine' any sort of cryptocurrency; dedicated, FPGA-based platforms have been purpose-built for it. Direct machine code running on a general-purpose CPU is a pale substitute for this, and Javascript is slow and bloated compared to that, and the code would only be running so long as you had a webpage open? I have a hard time seeing how it would 'mine' much of anything.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[ILoveFatCashews]

It's not really a case of Wall Street making money. They haven't actually produced anything of real value, so wealth hasn't been created. All they've done is consumed the bigger slice of an ever shrinking smaller pie, and converted them to an entry in some distributed database. Overall, it's a net economic loss. Resources were consumed without producing anything of value.

FTFY

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

from your perspective it seems like starting a computer produces negative value. what are you doing on slashdot grandpa?

Re: The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

Diff AC here. It all depends on what you're doing with the computer. If you're going to use it to watch anime or football videos all day, then it is a case of negative value. If you're going to use it to create software that makes other people and businesses more efficient, then it's an example of positive value.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[bluefoxlucid]

They haven't actually produced anything of real value, so wealth hasn't been created.

Why are people consuming the site's content?

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anubis IV]

My (admittedly limited) understanding of cryptocurrency mining is that it actually does produce value, in that the mining process itself is what's responsible for distributing, verifying, and otherwise maintaining the blockchain on which the currency is built. Which is to say, miners are the ones facilitating the use of the currency. It's actually part of what makes cryptocurrencies work so well, since the very act of maintaining the currency is both distributed and incentivized.

All of which is to say, mining isn't just a matter of spinning one's wheels without purpose. It produces value for the people making use of that currency.

Re: The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[bluefoxlucid]

Entertainment is bad, and we should all work to produce boring but necessary things.

So, you're Mormon?

Re: The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Qzukk]

That, or a Marxist. Time wasted on frivolities means less that can be taken from you according to your abilities.

Re: The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, more mining helps to strengthen the network - increase its safety. We need decentralized services badly! please support decentralized Internet! and also private money!

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[SScorpio]

Monero the coin being mined is supposedly optimized so that CPU or GPU will produce similar hash rates.

The Showtime websites this is placed on are where people stream pirated TV and movies. So visitors sit on them for 30 minutes to two hours on average.

I don't know how many people visit those sites, but it could easily be in the thousands to millions. Who knows how much money can could make off this.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, that's acute economic analysis considering you are a 49 year old who recently declared bankruptcy, lives in a one bedroom studio, and hasn't saved for retirement.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly, the parent AC does not place value on cryptocurrencies, but others may. And as long as others do, cryptocurrencies will have value.

Whether or not those that place value on cryptocurrencies actually understand what cryptocurrencies are and what problems they can and cannot solve is an entirely different issue.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Rick Schumann]

The real question is, I guess: Is this better or worse than ads? Pretty much everyone hates ads. This, ostensibly, would run silently in the background. If you're informed it's happening, and making a very broad assumption that there isn't going to be any malicious code being executed (implies they protect it from being hacked/repurposed into something malicious) is it a better solution for funding websites instead of ads?

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[PopeRatzo]

All of which is to say, mining isn't just a matter of spinning one's wheels without purpose. It produces value for the people making use of that currency.

Based on your description of how virtual currency mining creates value, then couldn't we also create value by adding a zero to the end of our bank balances?

Or more specifically, by having only people with fancy computers add a zero to their bank balances.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, that's acute economic analysis considering you are a 49 year old who recently declared bankruptcy, lives in a one bedroom studio, and hasn't saved for retirement.

Who the fuck are you talking about?

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

Luddite.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[ctilsie242]

I wonder if websites might move to a proof of work model, where their miner would have to execute for n cpu cycles for access to pages to be granted. I can see this becoming an alternative to advertising, especially with smartphone CPUs so relatively fast.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is how business succeeds. The pie isn't getting any bigger. In fact, it is shrinking with wealth moving to China. So, if you can take bigger slices from everyone else, you are doing well, and considered a true entrepreneur. This is why we don't see much R&D or new stuff, but we see everything from toll roads to charges for existing stuff that didn't cost.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anubis IV]

No, because in your example there's no correlation between the people adding 0s to their bank account and the people facilitating financial transactions. You're talking about paying people for doing nothing to aid the operation of the system, whereas I was talking about paying the people who facilitate the operation of the financial system.

If you'd like an actual example of this sort of thing in the real world, look no further than banks, ACH, and other financial institutions who facilitate the transfer of money. We pay them in various ways for the services they render. The big difference with cryptocurrencies is that the people facilitating transfers (i.e. miners) are paid directly via mechanisms built into the cryptocurrency's architecture, rather than via fees and interest that they have to collect themselves. In any financial system, someone(s) will need to facilitate things, and their efforts are of value to the people making use of that currency, whether we're talking about USD or Bitcoin. Paying someone for work done is not the same as arbitrarily adding 0s to bank accounts.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

I can spare CPU cycles. I don't have any more patience for ads, especially the ones that pop over an entire page, especially the ones that aren't designed for smartphones so I have to scroll around to find the "x". Yep I'll take that deal. If the browsers offer a built in throttle on javascript activity it would let users balance their own access vs battery life, and on a desktop it's not an issue at all.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

The user loses money or the user pays for the content. It's a matter of semantics.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[swb]

I don't know how much fractional value you can mine from a single session, but assuming you can build out the distributed computing network even a fraction of a cent multiplied across millions of users starts to be real money.

Getting $0.01 of value out of a million users is still $10,000 per day.

Re: The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[LocalH]

You do realize that Showtime is a premium network, and sites in question are legitimate, correct? Nobody is watching pirated content at either of those URLs.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Rick Schumann]

If they did something like that, they'd take what might have been a good replacement for annoying ads, and made it into something even more annoying than ads: making you sit there and wait, perhaps watching some inane countdown or 'progress bar' for something that the vast majority of people wouldn't understand. All I'm saying is, if it were I who were implementing this idea, I'd make it clear in the Terms of Service for the affected site that it's happening (perhaps with a one-time pop-up notice informing you) and otherwise let it execute silently in the background. Optionally a link you can click that shows realtime progress of the miner code in operation.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Rick Schumann]

Again, if it were I implementing this.. I probably would detect it being on a smartphone and not have it execute at all, or at most have it be 'opt in', simply because something like this would kill a smartphone battery in nothing flat, maybe even compared to playing HD video. They'd be offered a choice of paying a subscription fee or pay-per-use fee instead.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[parkinglot777]

A recent report has calculated that a site ... could make around $12,000 per month by mining Monero in the background.

It's not really a case of the site making money. They haven't actually produced anything of real value, so wealth hasn't been created. All they've done is consumed the computing and electricity resources of the site's users, and converted them to an entry in some distributed database. Overall, it's a net economic loss. Resources were consumed without producing anything of value.

At least advertising, as shitty as it is, can potentially result in a sale, which is an example of actual wealth creation.

Hmm... Your post reminds me of someone in economic field. You are looking at something that has no value means no loss in value (but in net economic). However, that is not really true with non-tangible product. In other words, no value is produced does not mean no wealth created at all. In this case, results from hash computation actually has value even though it doesn't find the combination.

Think of it as if you have to look through 1,000,000 boxes to find a mark. If you could eliminate 100 boxes that you don't need to look at because you know for sure that they don't contain a mark (someone has done it for you and you can trust the person), is that valuable time to you? How about 2 people instead of one look over 100 boxes each for you? In the sense of mining on other people's CPU time, it is similar. I'm not saying whether it is worthwhile, but I'm saying that it has its value regardless the amount. But in economic point of view, often times the view assumes little value as no value.

Now, given another example which is a bit different but still in the same sense. Think of a thief taking only 1 cent of every bank account which has $1,000 in the account. The thief just do it once every month. Most people don't feel or see the value of their loss. However, do you think is it worthwhile ignoring legal percussion if there are 1,000,000 accounts and you are the thief?

Therefore, the wealth can be created by nipping off big enough targets. Net economic loss is still a loss to another who is gaining because it is not a total wasted resources. In other words, not-worth-it is not equal to zero (0), and it can create wealth as long as the not-worth-it is above zero (0).

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you are running a website you want me to visit, then you likely are selling me something. A product or a service. Me visiting your site at your expense is the cost of doing business. If you throw advertisments on top of it, or even worse, if you try to use my machine to mine any type of crypto currency, then you are flat out stealing from me and you should expect a measured response.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[PopeRatzo]

No, because in your example there's no correlation between the people adding 0s to their bank account and the people facilitating financial transactions.

Sure there is. If you add a zero to my bank balance, it will facilitate many more financial transactions by me.

You're talking about paying people for doing nothing to aid the operation of the system, whereas I was talking about paying the people who facilitate the operation of the financial system.

In terms of productivity, those two things are exactly the same.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anubis IV]

Sure there is. If you add a zero to my bank balance, it will facilitate many more financial transactions by me.

Well, given that I said I was talking about "facilitat[ing] the operation of the financial system" and that you are not the financial system, I think it's safe to say that you're talking about something wholly separate. In fact, if you engaged in more financial transactions, it would place additional burden on those who are facilitating the system's operation, and if you intentionally twist terms in a disingenuous way like that again, I'll be done with this discussion.

In terms of productivity, those two things are exactly the same.

If you live in an agrarian society, perhaps, I suppose.

But as soon as your society grows beyond the ability for every transaction to occur via cash on a face-to-face basis, you'll necessarily incur a loss of productivity as people wait for funds to arrive before they can resume productive activities. As such, the act of facilitating timely and trustworthy transactions beyond face-to-face interactions produces value by allowing our productive activities to continue unabated. In much the same way that a courier provides value by moving an object from point A to point B in a timely and trustworthy manner, miners or an ACH provide value to financial systems by moving money from account A to account B in a timely and trustworthy manner.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Rick Schumann]

Okay, what if they offered you three versions: (1) You pay a subscription fee or per-use micropayment. (2) You get 'traditional' ads. (3) You get the cryptocurrency mining javascript. All the above are opt-in, fully informed, never opt-out. Saying "I don't like any of the above, why can't I access the site for FREE?" means you're denied access to the site entirely; you must choose one of the three options.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Khashishi]

Users will just block it either way.

Re: The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[AvitarX]

Well, they estimate the pirate bay can pull $12,000.00/month.

I'm not sure what their costs are, but it seems like best case scenario is a modest income for one person. Maybe showtime can do better as people watch there too?

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[indi0144]

Thats... thats not how it works. Theres no fractional gain in mining unless you are part of a mining pool. AFAIK you only get your share if you find one block, if you are mining alone all the block reward goes to you, if it's found by a pool its shared across the participants relative to the amount of work they provided.

But as far as I've been reading, crypto mining is dead, its been dead for months only profitable for the mining farms in Asia.

Latest ASIC miners are not reaching ROI within 2 years, for example, it used to be weeks/months.

Re:The site doesn't make money. Users lose money.

[Anonymous Coward]

This, ostensibly, would run silently in the background.

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the loud noise of the fans.

The unfiltered internet is for dumb people

[HBI]

A system based upon the execution of unknown code downloaded from remote sites is inherently insecure. That'll probably never get through enough heads to do anything about it, but there it is.

Walled gardens that prevent the blocking of said unknown code are prima facie unusable.

Re:The unfiltered internet is for dumb people

[Anonymous Coward]

I have no idea how anyone can browse the internet without a script-blocker and ad-blocker.

Re:The unfiltered internet is for dumb people

[HBI]

Most people don't understand what that means. "What's Javascript?" might be the response. So they pay for too much bandwidth and tolerate the poor performance inherent in the unfiltered net. And all the usual risks of running unidentified code.

Re:The unfiltered internet is for dumb people

[murdocj]

I don't use a script blocker and do a bit of ad-blocking. If a site slows me down, I close it. Problem solved.

Re:The unfiltered internet is for dumb people

[HBI]

Presuming that they didn't drive-by install something using a zero day against your browser or OS. It wouldn't take very long, and probably not even long enough for you to notice.

Your hope based strategy is probably not going to work out well over the long term.

Re:The unfiltered internet is for dumb people

[murdocj]

Yeah, it's only worked for 10 years. If I really wanted to be safe, I guess I could telnet to websites and just pick out what I wanted from the readable text.

Re: The unfiltered internet is for dumb people

[Anonymous Coward]

I audit my disks...

Re:The unfiltered internet is for dumb people

[Anonymous Coward]

Problem solved.

... except for the part where about 95% of the drive-by web security exploits use javascript as an attack surface, because it's MASSIVELY bigger and harder to get right than the simple HTML attack surface.

Re:The unfiltered internet is for dumb people

[HBI]

Are you positive that it has worked?

I'm quite sure that I wouldn't recognize every exploit for what it was, so therefore I don't allow such things to execute.

Doing it sleathily is wrong, but perhaps...

[Bugler412]

Doing it this way, unannounced and underhanded is wrong. However, if done in an upfront and informed way I would likely accept some form of low impact mining on my PC while consuming content over most forms of advertisement.

Re:Doing it sleathily is wrong, but perhaps...

[bluefoxlucid]

That was my first thought, followed by, "Oh wait, bitcoin et al aren't sustainable."

Re:Doing it sleathily is wrong, but perhaps...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, really. I'd be okay with opt-in "use some idle time to chip in" on the sites I frequent. It's the underhandedness that's bothering me.

Re:Doing it sleathily is wrong, but perhaps...

[middlehead]

As a replacement for advertising, sure. But not from something like Showtime that I'm presumably paying for.

Re:Doing it sleathily is wrong, but perhaps...

[Anonymous Coward]

Your second thought could not be more wrong. What is not sustainable is the current system of infinite debt, hundreds of trillions in whacky derivatives contracts and so on. At the next financial crisis, holders of crypto will be the new millionaires, and we won't be wanting to bail out the banksters again.

Re:Doing it sleathily is wrong, but perhaps...

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem with your prediction is that if the US Dollar collapses, so does most of the global economy... and no one is going to care about your 1's and 0's. People will be reduced to bartering, using precious metals for currency, and/or using one of a handful of government-backed currencies that might remain.

One of the first things people get rid of when they are facing bankruptcy is their internet connection (along with cable and any subscription services). The next thing is often their phone plan -- though many will get burner phones with pre-paid plans they use sparingly. Lot of good your crypto currency will be when no one has a method to store or exchange it.

Re:Doing it sleathily is wrong, but perhaps...

[Anonymous Coward]

I will take neither, thank you very much. Give me a paywall or I don't give a shit if your website closes down.

Re: Doing it sleathily is wrong, but perhaps...

[AvitarX]

Does the pirate bay really get less than $12,000/month in advertising though?

hamster mine

[Anonymous Coward]

I need to quickly think of a "hamster dance" site I can deploy this JS library. ca-ching!

Re: Kill javascript

[Anonymous Coward]

I second this, but instead of JS genocide, install No Coin, CPU freed up right away. Very disappointed this was causing my IDEs auto complete to be entirely unusable while watching bootleg.

Make me, tranny.

[Anonymous Coward]

https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-co...
https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-co...
https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-co...
https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-co...

CRIMES OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

United States war crimes

The Untold History of US War Crimes

U.S. Crimes Against Humanity: a history

Fellow blogger Marc Immanuel has written an extensive history of the United States and its ongoing imperial crimes against humanity from beginning to present, from its earliest days as a settler colonial enterprise to its numerous massacres of civilians in Iraq in the 21st century. The article gives a detailed account of each of the most well-known massacres committed against the Indigenous peoples by bloodthirsty white colonists who conducted what can only be described as a campaign of extermination against the original inhabitants of this land. These include

        The Gnadenhutten Massacre
        The Bad Axe Massacre
        Bloody Island Massacre
        Bear River Massacre
        Sand Creek Massacre
        Skeleton Cave Massacre
        The Wounded Knee Massacre

Immanuelâ(TM)s research leads him to conclude that by the year 1900, the combined Indigenous population from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific stood at around 250,000, or âoeless than 5% of the original population prior to the beginning of the European invasion by Spanish colonialist forces in the early 16th century.â From there other forms of genocide against the Native peoples that were used are detailed and discussed, such as biological genocide and cultural genocide.
February 28, 1991 image from the Gulf War taken by Ken Jarecke showing the corpse of an Iraqi soldier who was burned alive in the U.S. blitzkrieg known as the âoeHighway of Death.â

Aside from the multitude of genocides committed against the Indigenous populations, thereâ(TM)s the horrific U.S. Army genocide against the people of the Philippine Islands, torture of Haitians during the 1915-1934 invasion and occupation, the CIAâ(TM)s barbaric and sadistic MKUltra mind control program, Abu-Ghraib and GITMO warehouses of torture, state-sponsored and state-sanctioned brutality against people of color in the U.S., involvement in the âOpium Warsâ(TM) in China, the forced opening of Japan, financial and military support of brutal military dictator regimes all across the globe, crimes of aggression and massacres of civilians in North and South Vietnam, crimes of aggression against Cuba, invasion of Grenada, predator drone attacks on innocent families in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, and much, much more. This is an essential read and good reference point to be returned to again and again to combat the oft-repeated myth of supposed higher moral authority the U.S. claims to be in possession of.

Remember kids...

[RyanFenton]

Never browse without properly community-maintained ad blocking and script blocking.

And if any company complains about not being able to 'serve' you properly as they'd like to... add a request to have that complaint blocked.

Ryan Fenton

Re:Kill javascript

[Moheeheeko]

My company actually just removed Java from every system on the network. People are wising up, albeit slowly.

Voluntary mining would be fine...

[EndlessNameless]

I would gladly donate CPU time to support a site instead of viewing ads.

I might even idle my browser there---if it doesn't affect anything else I do. They really need to have a light touch though.

And, it should go without saying, but no mining on mobile. If I have to choose between bandwidth for ads and battery life, I'll take the ads.

Re:Kill javascript

[Anonymous Coward]

My company actually just removed Java from every system on the network. People are wising up, albeit slowly.

Removing Java from the system has nothing to do with disabling Javascript in the browser...

TULIPS! TULIPS!

[Anonymous Coward]

OMG tulips! Tulips, everyone! Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiii-

Am I missing something?

[Anonymous Coward]

Before I swung by slashdot, I hit TPB and fired up my download of Star Trek. I haven't paid TPB for anything, and I'm not about to sign up for their VPN, or stay up all night playing "The most addictive game of 2017". But TPB has provided me with a valuable service, and for that, I am more than happy to throw them a few spare CPU cycles.

Thanks guys, keep up the great work!

Terrible way to fund sites

[FeelGood314]

CPU mining has a return of between 1 and essentially 0% depending on the currency and the price of electricity. Best case scenario, you leave you web browser open for two days, you consume $1 of extra electricity and the web site gets $0.01. Unless the browser could leverage your GPU, you live in Quebec (cheap electricity) and it's winter so you are heating your house with the GPU, this is never going to make sense.

Re:Terrible way to fund sites

[johannesg]

CPU mining has a return of between 1 and essentially 0% depending on the currency and the price of electricity. Best case scenario, you leave you web browser open for two days, you consume $1 of extra electricity and the web site gets $0.01. Unless the browser could leverage your GPU, you live in Quebec (cheap electricity) and it's winter so you are heating your house with the GPU, this is never going to make sense.

It makes perfect sense if it is other people paying for the electricity...

Re:Terrible way to fund sites

[Anonymous Coward]

Stupid q, is your guesstimate based on one person? I'd imagine some would try to argue that the penny potentially earned would multiply with user count N increasing past 1,

Re:Terrible way to fund sites

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you even mine a quarter of a bitcoin? Do you only get paid when you discover a whole new bitcoin? The whole process is too arcane.

Re:Terrible way to fund sites

[Anonymous Coward]

There are developments on coins that are GPU and ASIC proof. Whether those developments will be successful, I don't know.
I'm not sure but it might be that these browser coins are already like that.

Re:Terrible way to fund sites

[Anonymous Coward]

You can join a pool. If anyone in the pool solves a block, everyone gets paid proportionally to how much compute effort they contributed.

Or you can not mine cryptocoins, and let the street price of Vega cards come down to somewhere near MSRP so I can afford one...

Re:Terrible way to fund sites

[Anonymous Coward]

OK, I'll bite. Who is paying for the electricity in your house if it isn't you?

Re:Terrible way to fund sites

[Anonymous Coward]

You're missing the point. Showtime.com is getting the results of mining. The people visiting showtime.com are the ones paying for the electricity.

Re:Terrible way to fund sites

[johannesg]

OK, I'll bite. Who is paying for the electricity in your house if it isn't you?

_I_ am paying for the electricity. The _website_ is getting the money. So for them it's free.

What does that mean? Well, for one thing, that the web we knew and loved is _over_. Just like how every website loaded up with as much ads as they could possibly fit, now they will load up with as much mining as they can. Which means that opening a webbrowser, in the near future, will guarantee a CPU load of 100%, no matter what you're doing, with every page you open fighting for its unfair share.

There will be countermeasures, of course: noscript, but the smarter solutions will try to take the money before it gets to the miner. And browsers that only use one core are going to be a feature...

APK can't stop sucking moose dick

[Anonymous Coward]

APK can't stop sucking moose dick

Re:APK can't stop sucking moose dick

[Anonymous Coward]

He left you a message BullSHITWinkle and it made me laugh at you https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11160937&cid=55260309/

Re: The site doesn't make money. Users lose money

[Anonymous Coward]

Producing entertainment has a positive value. Consuming entertainment has a negative value. That's why musicians, actors, and entertainment industry execs are wealthy. It's also why chronic consumers of shitty Japanese animations are penniless hobos squatting in the basement of their mother's house.

Re:Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

You have been ranting about this shit on Slashdot for 10 years. Move on with your life.

Re:Kill javascript

[Anonymous Coward]

Your company needs to buy a clue. Preferably from my company which sells CLUE: a PHP based JavaScript to Java translator so that your Java removal will now remove JavaScript too.

[Hey guys, don't tell him, but I'm just going to sell him NoScript]

Re:Kill javascript

[grumpy-cowboy]

Java != Javascript. I don't know what your company is selling, but I will not buy anything from you if your IT dept cannot make the difference between Java and Javascript.

Re:Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

He must be correct since all you ever manage is harassing him or downmoderating him for no good reason yet you never prove him wrong.

No Scropt to the rescue

[Anonymous Coward]

I run no script and while yst it often makes some websites completely un-usable, it does help me eliminate potential abuses from the people who run those websites.

Fun fact: no script provides a bar at the bottom of the browser that allows you to temporarily allow scripts on a domain by domain basis. its mind blowing to see all of the cross site scripting so plainly in the open. it also allows me to not allow scripts from things like google analytics, obvious ad companies and random cloudfare domains.

thankfully slashdot works with out scripts enabled.

Re:TULIPS! TULIPS!

[Anonymous Coward]

So confusing. Are you pumping OMG? Lol...

APK can't stop with the moose dick

[Anonymous Coward]

He once manage to get 2 in his ass at once but ended up hospitalized for a few weeks

Rectum, damn near killed him

Best few weeks on slash dot ever

Re:APK can't stop with the moose dick

[Anonymous Coward]

Apk left a message that made me laugh my ass off at you again https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11160937&cid=55261053/

Re:You've done BETTER anonymous "ne'er-do-well"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Even cdreimer has done better than you but you just don't want to face the truth that your work is worthless just like you. I don't feel the need to spam my work here in an attempt and make it seem like I have something worthwhile. If we are such a waste of your time and life why do you continue to post here and respond to everyone who dares mock you? It must because you even lie to yourself about your worth and accomplishments.

THEFT

[Anonymous Coward]

It's theft of my CPU power and electricity that I pay for and many people will view it as a military attack and subject to a military response.

Re:"2 & more-4 the price of 1" via hosts... ap

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

Heh,

My corp firewall lists your program as "malware"
Not saying it's right...but I find that funny all the same.

Re:BullSHITWinkle, please (lol)... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think it's news worthy. This project has been in development and testing for 20 years and they are talking about another 20 years before they even have a demo.

That is a huge amount of time.

Sorry moose cocksucker APK, but that wasn't me

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry moose cocksucker APK, but that wasn't me

I guess you are just too busy getting your ass reamed by moose dick to sign your posts now

I thought you were going to stop wasting time responding to me

Must be because your brain got so pumped full of moose cum that you can't think at all anymore

Re:Sorry moose cocksucker APK, but that wasn't me

[Anonymous Coward]

You blew modpoints 18 times down moderating him and he ran you and your sockpuppets clean out of them again hahahaha! That's the only time you ever reply with your stupidity.

Not the case with Monero

[Anonymous Coward]

The hashing algo used by monero needs a fair amount of super fast memory (think CPU L2 or L3 speed). Its not efficiently minable with GPUs or ASICs.

Depending on electricity cost, consumer level CPU mining can be profitable. Even better if using someone elses electricity.

Re:Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

coin-hive.com has wildcard DNS. How is your hosts file going to block that?

Re:What vendor? I'll put them in their place

[Anonymous Coward]

No pro would use your stuff. You made a couple of little programs that someone who had a bit of programming knowledge and an AAS networking 1 class, or a bit of programming knowledge and the wikipedia page on fat32 could make. If you have ever created something other than your hosts file engine, really dumb name btw, or your defrag program please list them because all I have seen you hold up as examples are those dumb little things and nothing else. Maybe their firewall is protecting them from your stalking and harassment which would be another wise thing to do, or maybe it is just something that blocks junk software. Besides you have some strange definitions of proof. I doubt your little programs have gone through any formal proof but instead were checked against some known definitions and declared to not match any. So your software hasn't been proven secure it has simply been shown to not match any known definitions which is pretty flimsy proof of security especially given its low install base. I don't expect you to understand this as you frequently show off your ignorance and this sort of things is a rather advanced topic but I felt like putting you in your place today.

Can't stop hosts (vs. scripts & domain names)

[Anonymous Coward]

Stops domains & scripts (faster+more efficiently vs. NoScript) APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-7 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22APK+Hosts+File+Engine%22+and+%22start64%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/

Ads/script/malware rob speed/security/privacy/bandwidth.

Hosts add speed (via hardcodes/adblocks), security (vs. bad sites/malware/poisoned dns), reliability (vs. dns down), & anonymity (vs. dns requestlogs/trackers).

Less power/cpu/ram + IO use vs. DNS/routers/addons/antivirus + less security bugs/complexity & faster vs. addons/routers/remote dns!

Avoids DNSChangers in routers/IP settings & dns redirect (99.999% of ISP DNS != patched vs. it) + DNS tracking & lighten DNS load & resolve faster from local system RAM!

* Via what u NATIVELY have in a FASTER kernelmode IP stack!

APK

P.S. - Safe https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/e01211ca36aa02e923f20adee0a3c4f5d5187dc65bdf1c997b3da3c2b0745425/analysis/1433430542/

Re:Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

Hosts bypass remote dns and all of its many known security issues like kaminsky redirect poisoning resolving locally faster. I'd block them altogether using hosts 0.0.0.0 coin-hive.com.

Basic economics issue

[sfcat]

Bitcoin mining has been done by custom chips for at least the last 5 years. The economics of mining are that you convert electricity into currency at some rate that is efficient (ie the value of the electricity < value of the coins mined). CPU mining of bitcoin is at least 100x less efficient than the custom chips used by miners. For other currencies (ie Litecoin like currencies), its either custom chips or graphics cards (I think the graphics cards have been squeezed out of there too) which are at least 10x less efficient.

The result of which is that they user's are only "contributing" 1/10th to 1/100th of their extra expenses to the site. So this scheme is 1/10th to 1/100th as efficient as users just paying the site directly. I don't see how this would work for a business but I can easily see how some malicious actor would be very attracted to this.

Re:Basic economics issue

[corychristison]

CoinHive is mining Monero, which does not benefit from custom miner hardware.

Re:Basic economics issue

[indi0144]

Yes but the difficulty is so high (and Monero the coin so stagnant) thats not really worth it. Theres always newer and fresher coins to mine tho, but most crypts are going Prof-of-stake instead of prof-of-work. The value of bitcoins being given by the electricity used to create them was always a meme.

This JS would have been a killer 3-4 years ago, today? And with the SEC preparing to come after so many scammers in the crypto scene? Meh.

When you have the Chaina© and the US (and even JPM) working together to destabilize something...

Re:Kill javascript

[h33t l4x0r]

cat /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 coin-hive.com
127.0.0.1 www.coin-hive.com

problem solved.

Hey retard you posted that already

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey retard you posted that already, multiple times. I go on vacation for a couple of weeks and when I get back I see APK decided to prove to the world he is still a retard. It is nice to see some things never change. He is still constructing arguments and sentences like an retard. I'm surprised he hasn't started whining like the little retarded bitch he is since people are getting sick of his spam and modding him down. One of these days I might actually get an account just so I can mod him down but I like watching him act like a retard so I don't think I would.

Re:Hey retard you posted that already

[Anonymous Coward]

You down moderated him7 times or more and he's run you out of your weak 'downmodpoints' again hahaha & you can't prove apk wrong as usual. Hilarious and priceless.

Re: Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is your host file is eventually going to fail you while a browser extension won't. It may slow down page loads but if you have a modern mid-range PC you won't notice a difference

How so wannabe "genius" LOL... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

You have TOTAL control of a hosts file easily (unlike regex using addons that eat TONS doing less, lol OR NOT WORKING http://www.businessinsider.com... paid off NOT too - which made me LAUGH LARGE when Wladimir Palant had to DELETE IT FROM HIS FORUMS when I confronted his lame & WEAK ass on that much (& how f'ing inefficient his work is too, lol).

* Amateurs, please - GO AWAY before I annihilate you publicly, easily, even more....

APK

P.S.=> LOL, then again? That's why your SIMIAN DIMWIT ASSES troll me via UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts (are you trying to make me LOOK GOOD @ your expense as always, or what... RoTfLmao!)... apk

Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject & - NoScript's inferior & inefficient vs. hosts (noscript & addons have overheads FAR beyond hosts + operate in slower usermode (vs. hosts in faster kernelmode)). No SINGLE addon does as much (& for FAR less resources), no questions asked!

* Pats self on back... why? Ok:

NoScript has to parse & detect script tags in slower usermode (layering in more messagepassing overheads into a usermode browser, stack those addons, FF slows down (way down) due to it) & uses resources like mad in usermode (hosts doesn't nearly as much as part of the IP stack itself). Hosts blocks script sources (& more adverse things like ads etc. too) BEFORE the need to parse webpages.

APK

P.S.=> LONG before... negating the need for NoScript. They ought to call it "NoNeedForNoScript" lol... apk

Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject & - NoScript's inferior & inefficient vs. hosts (noscript & addons have overheads FAR beyond hosts + operate in slower usermode (vs. hosts in faster kernelmode)). No SINGLE addon does as much (& for FAR less resources), no questions asked!

* Pats self on back... why? Ok:

NoScript has to parse & detect script tags in slower usermode (layering in more messagepassing overheads into a usermode browser, stack those addons, FF slows down (way down) due to it) & uses resources like mad in usermode (hosts doesn't nearly as much as part of the IP stack itself). Hosts blocks script sources (& more adverse things like ads etc. too) BEFORE the need to parse webpages.

APK

P.S.=> LONG before... negating the need for NoScript. They ought to call it "NoNeedForNoScript"lol... apk

Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject & - NoScript's inferior & inefficient vs. hosts (noscript & addons have overheads FAR beyond hosts + operate in slower usermode (vs. hosts in faster kernelmode)). No SINGLE addon does as much (& for FAR less resources) no questions asked!

* Pats self on back... why? Ok:

NoScript has to parse & detect script tags in slower usermode (layering in more messagepassing overheads into a usermode browser, stack those addons, FF slows down (way down) due to it) & uses resources like mad in usermode (hosts doesn't nearly as much as part of the IP stack itself). Hosts blocks script sources (& more adverse things like ads etc. too) BEFORE the need to parse webpages.

APK

P.S.=> LONG before... negating the need for NoScript. They ought to call it "NoNeedForNoScript"lol... apk

Many MORE problems solved via... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject & check it man via "yours truly" https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11160937&cid=55262911/

* Pats self on back per my "themesong" for today (JET) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8V1nFCP058/ :)

APK

P.S.=> Accept NO substitutes APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-7 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22APK+Hosts+File+Engine%22+and+%22start64%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/ ... apk

Re:Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Rakarra]

See subject & https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... [slashdot.org] - NoScript's inferior & inefficient vs. hosts (noscript & addons have overheads FAR beyond hosts + operate in slower usermode (vs. hosts in faster kernelmode)). No SINGLE addon does as much (& for FAR less resources), no questions asked!

I like host-based approaches, but what if the website itself serves out the malicious/inefficient/junk JS? I'd like to be open to open a website without its javascript crap firing off, so I feel like I still have to enable NoScript. Worse, I'd like to enable things like googleapis but only if certain websites request them, but NoScript just lets you + or - googleapis completely. IE, if I enable it, then both goodsite.com and badsite.com automatically get to use them, and I don't know any way around that at the moment.

I didn't downmod retarded APK

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't downmod you, if I had an account I might consider it but then I would miss out on pointing out how much of a retard you are which would be a greater loss to the greater slashdot community. I guess you are too much of a scared little retarded bitch to claim your posts now for fear that I will spank your retarded ass so hard that the monkeys at the zoo would be jealous of your red inflamed ass. Everyone knows it is you posting as AC to make it look like you have some support so why don't you just claim it.

It was you witless baboon, lol... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject & ALWAYS a pleasure completely publicly SHITTING on "your kind" unidentifiable do-nothing "ne'er-do-well" losers https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11160937&cid=55262911/

* RoTfLmAo...

(No shit... lol)

APK

P.S.=> I truly can't imagine a life (or whatever it is "your kind" calls your wasted existence, lol) like yours. I just can't. Instead I create GREAT things others like (unlike YOU) https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11160937&cid=55262301/ you pitiful "ne'er-do-well" douche loser (lol)... apk

Red Ass? U Baboon just 4 U, lmao... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject & Hahahahaha you moronic red-ass baboon https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11160937&cid=55263071/

* I'm ALWAYS miles ahead of your DULL witted "intellect" baboon... lol!

(Ever see "MAD MEN" on Netflix? I am what Don Draper was described as vs. imbeciles like YOU, always ahead of your lame 'brain', on the edge, beating YOUR KIND to it, lol!)

APK

P.S.=> Funniest part is? You just NATURALLY have an inflamed anus, lol... I merely PUBLICLY exacerbate it, SPANKING YOUR WEAK ASS lol, to YOUR public dismay loser.... apk

Quoted /.ers make you EAT your words

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine. Your software is well written, functional. The Host File Engine performs exactly as promised by mmell

his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant

his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg

(APK's) work, I've flat out said it's good by BronsCon

I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works by bmo

APK your posts on this & the hosts file posts, and more, have never been in error &/or bad advice by BlueStrat

Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising & malvertising is quite valid by JazzLad

I like your host file system by Karmashock

(NEED MORE? Ask!)

* It's recommended/hosted by Malwarebytes' hpHosts!

APK

P.S.=> China imitated me http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/26/boffins_supercharge_the_hosts_file_to_save_users_plagued_by_dns_outages/ ... apk

Re:Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

0.0.0.0 coin-hive.com

That's nice. How does that protect you against ge09j43ysigrh.coin-hive.com, fd41fc923b837d7f5448164762.coin-hive.com, or apk-is-a-loser.coin-hive.com? All of them resolve to the same IP. Wildcard DNS gives attackers infinite possibilities, all of which your hosts file will FAIL to block.

You've done BETTER anonymous "ne'er-do-well"?

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject: Get back to me when your do-nothing troll ass manages better, ok? What am I saying - it'll NEVER happen, lol!

* You're a waste of life & MY time...

(... & you KNOW + PROVE it for me)

APK

P.S.=> I think you're a jealous LOSER, lol - SEE SUBJECT: Lmao, you HAVE to evade answering (nothing to YOUR grimy little PIMP of a life's credit worth anything)... apk

Why'd you downmod hide all these then?

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject & https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... , & https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... + https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... blowhard BULLSHITTER that you are?

APK

P.S.=> Answer = YOU truly are MY inferior & you know it (the above PROVES it & those are only TINY partial samplings of what I could level @ SCUM "ne'er-do-wells" like YOU & "your kind" blowhard liar, lol) - I actually PITY you, no joke (Thank you for showing your true color: Transparent ZERO, lol)... apk

Apply the tune to MY work... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

See my subject & its lyrics: "Jet w/ wind in your hair of a 1,000 places: Climb on in & go for a ride in the SkYYYyyyy..." because it makes you way, Way, WAY faster (as well as safer, more reliably connected, & more anonymous).

* :)

APK

P.S.=> ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTE (least of all inefficient & INFERIOR addons) APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-7 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22APK+Hosts+File+Engine%22+and+%22start64%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/

Are you stupid?

[Anonymous Coward]

More domains? Same way stupid! Block them out too in hosts as shown (or a firewall knocking the IP out). Man, you're dumb! I suppose AIDS is eating your brain away. Got to be.

Re:Hell, I KNOW it is (inferior vs. hosts)

[Anonymous Coward]

You're no one to advise anyone considering you haven't done shit with your wasted life by comparison you can show. Prove different. Everyone knows you can't. Hilarious.

"2 & more-4 the price of 1" via hosts... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Stops domains & scripts (faster+more efficiently vs. NoScript) via APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-7 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22APK+Hosts+File+Engine%22+and+%22start64%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/

Ads/script/malware rob speed/security/privacy/bandwidth.

Hosts add speed (via hardcodes/adblocks), security (vs. bad sites/malware/poisoned dns), reliability (vs. dns down), & anonymity (vs. dns requestlogs/trackers).

Less power/cpu/ram + IO use vs. DNS/routers/addons/antivirus + less security bugs/complexity & faster vs. addons/routers/remote dns!

Avoids DNSChangers in routers/IP settings & dns redirect (99.999% of ISP DNS != patched vs. it) + DNS tracking & lighten DNS load & resolve faster from local system RAM!

* Via what u NATIVELY have in a FASTER kernelmode IP stack!

APK

P.S. - Safe https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/e01211ca36aa02e923f20adee0a3c4f5d5187dc65bdf1c997b3da3c2b0745425/analysis/1433430542/

Easily fixed (via hosts)... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject: Hardcode in 'goodsite.com' FIRST (e.g. IPAddress goodsite.com) & BLOCK 'badsite.com' after it (e.g. 0.0.0.0 badsite.com) & it will work for you just fine - how/why? Simple:

The IP stack will use the 1st result it finds for 'goodsite.com' is why, from hosts (takes precedence over remote DNS & can be made to take precedence easily over a dnscache (dnsapi.dll) too!

This also completely avoids using DNS this way for either one since it found local resolution in hosts this way - no need to call out to DNS, period...

(Which is ALSO why this method avoids DNS redirect poisonings (99++% of ISP DNS servers aren't patched vs. it last I knew of mind you)... it also avoids the SLOWER time it takes for roundtrip out to your DNS & back for using those for resolutions too AND it avoids DOWNED DNS (happens quite a lot - more than you'd think in fact)).

APK

P.S.=> Blocking script source servers = ez in hosts too & faster vs. NoScript (by far)... apk

Re:What vendor? I'll put them in their place

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

Bluecoat. Was a McAfee program, now owned by...Symantec I think.
And it's quite difficult to "show" you a screencap of BC telling me what it thinks of your file, if I can't send it to you, because you won't post an e.mail or owned website here...

"Quite difficult" my ass... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

"Quite difficult" my ass - you're full of it. You have NO VALID REAL PROOF of your lies & you KNOW it liar...

APK

P.S.=> Unbelievable... apk

Re:"Quite difficult" my ass... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't change the fact you won't post an e.mail address...nor a valid website where you host your own files.

You know what they call people who do that? "Shady" is what.
Step into the light, register an account here, give us an e.mail address, and/or a website where we can contact you. What are you so afraid of?